hendebson



UNITED 1 STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH C. HENDERSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TONEWTON `M. BELL, OF SAME PLACE.

SHINGLE.

SPECIPICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,203, dated March 27, 1888.

Application filed December 22, 1887. Serial No. 258.774. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, HUGH C. HENDERSON, of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Shingles; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. Y

My invention relates to certain improvements in shingles for covering houses and an apparatus for preparing the same, which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a View vof one of my shingles. Fig. 2 is a section of a roof with a few courses in place. Fig. 3 is a view of the jointer. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the disk andv knives.

Shingles are usually made ,of rectangular strips about sixteen Ainches long, varying in width from four to twelve inches, and having a'thickness of about three-eighths of an inch at one end and tapering to a thin edge at the other. rlhe sides of these shingles are intended to be parallel; but the shinglesare usually wider at the thicker end than at the thin end. This is caused by 'careless and imperfect j ointing, and is a defect difficult to avoid. The ordinary'jointer consists of a wheel fitted with knives upon one side.` This wheel revolves at a high speed, and the shingle is placed upon a guide and pressed against the revolving knives, so that the edges are dressed off in a straight line. As the thin edge is cut away more rapidly than the thick one, it is almost impossible to preventthis tapering shape to the shingles, and when laid in the usual manner, one layer overlapping another, with about four inches exposed to the weather, the shingles are usually nearly or quite in contact at the lower ends, with a space between,which graduallyV widens from this point upwardly toward the narrow end. Within this space dirt will collect, iirst at the lower or narrow end and gradually accumulate toward the wider part above, forming a dam, (which darn will sometimes be nearly up to the line of the overlappinglayer of shingles,') which will hold the water falling upon the roof, causing it to set back into the space betweenthe shingles, and it will run under the shingles and by capillary attraction creep up between them, even above the line ofthe course above, run through any knot-holes or cracks or throughtheholes made by the nails, causing the roof to. leak,

also causing the shingles to become damp, so as to rot easily, and the nails by which they are fastened will become rusted off, so Ythat the shingles will come out, and thus make other leaks.

The above is only true in part, as it is not the universal rule that shingles are narrower at the thin end; but even if they had parallel sides the objection would still hold, as in laying the roof a carpenter cannot be at the pains to have the thick edges all to an exactline, some of the spaces would be even, somewedgeshaped, closed at the lower end,'and some the reverse of this. In any event the space is narrow and forms a ready receptacle for dirt or paint, (if the roof is painted,) partially closing Y it up, producing the result stated.

The salient point is that thespace is narrow and readily lls up, and the fact that it is sometimes in the form of a wedge, tending to aggravate the difficulty, is simply an incident of and not the prime cause of the defect.

readily formed by fixing to the face of the re- Y volving disks which form the jointer an additional set of knives, D. These knives have their inner ends at the saine distance above the facey of the disk as the knives E, which form the straight edge of the shingle, overlapping enough to makea proper joint, and the outer ends of the knives D are as much higher from the face'of the disk C as will be needed to cut away the thicker end of the shingle, so asxto form thebeveled portion B, before described. In place ofthe two sets of separate knives, single knives may be used having the outer end raised-from the surface, so as tor form thev IOO 75l My invention is designed to overcome this angle or bevel, as before described. By this construction the shingles are readily jointed, the work being done as rapidly as in the ordinary straight j ointing. These shingles, when laid so as to expose about four inches of the thicker end in the usual manner, will have a widening space between them commencing near the lower end of the course above and opening outwardly to the exposed end of the shingles, which allows all the water which falls from the roof to run oil' rapidly and easily,and also enables me to thoroughly paint all portions of the roof and theseintermediate spaces as well.

I am aware slates of different shapes,includ ing lengthened octagonal form, have been constructed and used in conjunction with special fastening devices as a covering for roofs. I therefore do not claim such constructions, as in my case the shingle has parallel edges for about two-thirds of its length,which then converge slightly the remaining distance to form a widening space between contiguous shingles, for a purpose previously stated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, a shingle having approximately-parallel edges for about two-thirds of the length from the thin end, and converging slightly the remaining distance, substantially as herein described.

2. The shingle having the edges at the thicker end made slightly diverging to a point about one-third of the length from the thicker end and approximately parallel from that point to the thinner end, substantially as herein described. V

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. l

HUGH C. HENDERSON. Witnesses:

OWEN CoNNoLLY, CHAs. D. WHEAT. 

